Things You Don't Expect to See Reported in the Toronto Media

Toronto — The family of a Newfoundland man is overjoyed after discovering he hadn’t been killed in a train accident after all.

Police in Toronto had identified Dane Squires as the man killed while crossing the track of a Toronto GO train last Friday.

But, during Thursday’s funeral in Toronto, Squires called his daughter Trina to report he was alive and well.

The body on the GO tracks had been found without identification, and the family had contacted police to report Squires missing.

Toronto police are saying the dead man remains unidentified, and Squires’ family is bewildered.

“We’ve been mourning in Newfoundland and in Toronto, everywhere in total shock,” says Dane’s brother Gilbert of St. Philip’s, Newfoundland.

“They just loaded Dane’s body in the hearse and the funeral director comes and says somebody would like to speak to you on the phone and Dane’s daughter Trina took the phone. This was Dane on the phone, so she actually thought that she was dead or talking to a ghost or something and just about lost her mind,” he says.

Squires says it’s not unusual for his brother, who stays with his sister in Toronto, to visit friends for four or five days and then come back.

His brother didn’t realize there was any problem until he read his own obituary in the newspaper.

I’d say that there is a story in this, somewhere, except that I think it’s already been rejected by too many fiction editors as being completely unbelievable…

Police are now looking again for the true identity of the victim. On a gruesome note, the fact that identification is so difficult illustrates just how much harm can come to an individual that gets run over by a train. Ick.

The Effects of Ivan

I haven’t heard from my friend, Pat Degan, but I’m fairly confident that he and his family are okay after New Orleans suffered only a brush with Hurricane Ivan. Meanwhile, Jean is going to ensure that the storm porn coverage continues on สัตว์ใต้ท้องทะเลCNN.

And, related to my point in this post, CNN ran a poll two days ago asking “which are you more interested in: Hurricane Ivan or the coverage of the presidential election”. I can’t find the results, but I’d wager that the hurricane trounced the results. Another intriguing, unscientific survey: “Who do you believe more on President Bush’s National Guard records? CBS News or President Bush?” CBS News currently leads with a 57% majority.

Here at home, Erin’s first week as the writer in residence for Waterloo’s public library went pretty well. If you’re in the K-W area, and have a manuscript you would like to see reviewed, feel free to submit it to the Waterloo Public Library and book an appointment. I myself am still looking for temporary assignments, and keeping my fingers crossed for a couple of opportunities. If you could keep your fingers crossed as well, I’d appreciate it.

The writing has gone well, with Erin helping to workshop Sealwife. The story is now around 5800 words, and the word count is expected to drop further as we tighten the tale. After Sealwife, I think I’ll head back to The Night Girl. The :Trenchcoat Farewell Project: should move forward this weekend, as the last stories are put into their final layout format and Sentinel gets properly proofread (thanks Matt!).